Rail-stay.



J. M. VAIL.

RAIL STAY.

APPLIGATION FILED AUG.24, 1914.

Patented Mar. 16, 1915.

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I. M. VAIL.

RAIL STAY.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.24, 1914.

mm a 11 1 m m E 0m a m m n@ WITNESSESI JOSEPH M. VAIL, OF BRYAN, OHIO.

BAIL-STAY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. ltd, 1315.

Application filed August 24, 1914. Serial No. 858,281.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH M. Van, a citizen of the United States, and aresident of Bryan, in the county of Williams and State of Ohio, haveinvented a certain new and useful RaiLStay; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains tomake and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,and to the characters of reference marked thereon, which form a part ofthis specification.

This invention relates to stays for railway rails for preventing arelative creeping of the rails and supporting ties in one direction.

The object of my invention is the provision of an improved device ofthis character, and has particular reference to improvements on the railstays covered by my prior Letters Patent No. 1,091,603, dated March 31,1914.

The invention is fully described in the following specification, andwhile, in its broader aspect, it is capable of embodiment in numerousforms, two preferred embodiments thereof are illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a device embodying the inventionseparate from a rail. Fig. 2 is a top plan view of portions of a railand tie with the device operatively connected therewith, and Figs. 3 anda are similar views, respectively, of a slightly modified form of thedevice.

Referring to the drawings, 1 designates a railway tie, and 2 a railsupported thereby. The device embodying the invention comprises twoseparably connected members, one of which, for convenience, may betermed the cross-bar or body member, and the other the thrust member,the former extending under the rail substantially diagonally thereof,and the latter having engagement with the former and having a part incontact with a side of a tie and cobase, the recess 5 preferably beingvertically spaced from the upper surface of the bar 3 to provide a spacebetween the under side of an engaged rail and the top of the bar. Thebar 3 is preferably of sufficient length for the end thereof opposed tothe head 4: to extend substantially to the opposite edge of the railbase when applied thereto.

The thrust member of the device comprises, in the present instance, ablock or head 6 for extending lengthwise of a rail and having its outerend preferably enlarged to adapt it to abut against a side of a tie 1,and its inner side edge longitudinally recessed, as at 7, to receive theadjacent edge portions of a rail base. The end of the thrust member 6,which is opposed to the tie abutting end thereof, is preferably adaptedto project over the free or adjacent end portion of the cross-bar 3 andhas releasable engagement with the cross-bar for sliding movementsrelative thereto longitudinally of the engaged rail.

In Figs. 1 and 2 I have shown a dove-tail tongue and groove connectionbetween the bar 3 and thrust member 6 to retain the same in releasableassembled relation and to permit a relative movement thereoflongitudinally of a rail base. In this form, 8 designates a tongue orrib of dove-tail form in cross-section, which is provided on the uppersurface of the bar 3 adjacent to its free end and extends in a directionsubstantially parallel with the longitudinal axis of the rail when thebar 3 is in its proper diagonal position relative to the rail. The endof the thrust member 6 opposed to the tie abutting end thereof isprovided on its under side with a longitudinally extendu ingcomplemental groove or recess 9 for receiving the tongue 8 forlongitudinal sliding engagement therein, said groove being open at thefree or rear end of the thrust member and provided with a thrust wall atits opposite end against which the adjacent end of the tongue 8 isadapted to abut when inserted to its maximum extent into the groove. Itis thus evident that the tongue and groove are moved into engagementfrom the tie side of the bar 3, and that when the tongue and the closedend of the groove are in abutment an end thrust on the member 6, such aswould be exerted by a tie upon a movement of an engaged rail in onedirec tion over the tie, would cause a thrust to be exerted on thetongue 8, or, in other words,

the tongue 8 would oppose the tie actuated thrust of the member 6. It isthus evident that the tongue and groove connection between the members 3and 6 tends to retain the opposed rail base engaging portions of saidmembers in clamping engagement with a rail base, and also provides athrust connection between said members for communicating a tie actuatedlongitudinal movement of the member 6 to the connected end of the member3 as is apparent.

In Figs. 3 and A the connecting means be tween the members 3 and 6 takesthe form of a pivotal stud and slot connection. The stud 10, in thepresent instance, projects upward from the upper surface of the bar 3 7adjacent to its free end and engages a slot or opening 11 in the member6, such slot or opening being elongated longitudinally of the member 6to allow for a limited longitudinal movement of the thrust memberrelative to the stud 10.

A spring-arm 12, which is preferably, but not necessarily, of loopedform, as shown, projects transversely from the forward end of the thrustmember 6, or the end thereof connected to the bar 3, between the bar 3and rail base and has its free end sprung into catch engagement with theendsurface of the bar head 4 when the parts are in assembled engagementwith a rail- When the free end portion of the bar 3 and thrust member 6are connected, the free end of the spring-arm 12 normally stands at theinner side of the head A of the bar so that it is necessary to exertpressure thereon to swing the free end of the arm away from theassociated tie and in thrust engagement with the head surface 13. It isthus evident that the spring connection which I have provided betweenthe thrust member 6 and the headed end of the bar 3 yieldingly resists amove-.

ment of the thrust member toward the engaged tie relative to the bar 3.

The connecting of the members 3 and 6 in a manner to permit a slidingmovement of the thrust member relative to the bar 3 longitudinally of arail and the yieldingly retaining of said members in assembled relationwith their interengaged parts in thrust contact, whereby a tie actuatedmovement of the thrust member 6 communicates a corresponding movement tothe bar 3, are found to be very important features in a rail stay.

When the rail stay is in use it, or at least the flange tie abutting endof the thrust block 6 thereof projects down into the road ballast sothat when a freezing occurs after a thaw or rain such block 6 will besecurely anchored in the ballast. In practice it is very frequentlyfound that the change in temperature at such times causes a jumping backor a movement of the rail in a direction opposed to, its direction ofcreeping and that the rail in its backward movement carries with it aportion of the members of a rail stay having relatively movable parts,the other portion of the members being held anchored in the ballast.WVith most rail stays the separation of the members in this mannerpermits a permanent disconnection thereof so that they will no longer beof service in preventing a creeping of the rail without replacing themon the rail. With my invention the bar 3 is drawn rearwardly by the railin its creeping action while the thrust block 6 remains stationary, suchrelative movement of the members being permitted by reason of the tongueand groove connection in one form and the pin and slot connection in theother form of the members. Upon a releasing of the thrust-block 6 fromthe ballast when a thaw occurs, the spring arm 12 will cause a returnmovement of the. thrust-block 6 to its normal position relative to thebar 3 and prevents a falling apart of the members.

I wish it understood that my invention is not limited to any specificconstruction, arrangement or form of the parts except in so far as suchlimitations are specified in the claims.

Having'thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is,-

1. A rail stay of the class described comprising two members havingopposed engagement with opposite sides of a rail base and one intendedto have thrust contact with a tie, said members having limited slidinginterengaging connection, and means for yieldingly resisting a relativemovement of said members lengthwise of the rail and operable toautomatically return the members to normal rail base gripping positionwhen a force acting to relatively move the members is removed.

2. A rail stay having a pair of opposed rail base clamping membersinterengaged for relative sliding movements lengthwise of a rail, andmeans connecting the two members and operable to yieldingly retain themembers in rail base clamping position, to resist a. rail base releasingmovement of the members and to return the members to normal rail baseclamping position when a force tending to impart relative rail basereleasing movement to the members is re: moved.

3. A rail base having a pair of opposed rail base gripping members, oneextending under and the other lengthwise of an engaged rail, saidmembers having parts interengaging for limited relative slidingmovements lengthwise of a rail and having parts in yielding connectionand tending to retain said first mentioned parts in interengaged thrustcontact whereby athrust of one member in one direction will be exertedon the other.

4. A rail stay having a pair of opposed rail base clamping members insliding interengagement beneath a rail for relative slid- 7 ing movementlengthwise of an engaged rail,

said members having parts in yielding coaction for yieldingly resistinga relative movement of the interengaged portions of said members in onedirection and for returning them to normal position after beingrelatively moved.

5. A rail stay having a bar extending under a rail and having arail-base edge-engaging part at one end, a tie thrust member forengagement with the opposite base edge of a rail, said bar and memberhaving portions releasably interengaged for relative sliding movementslongitudinally of a rail and adapted to coact to exert a thrust from onepart to the other, said bar and member having parts in yieldingengagement and cooperating to normally retain said interengaged parts inengaged thrust contact.

6. A rail stay having a pair of opposed rail-base gripping membersprovided beneath the rail with interengaged parts which connect themembers for relative sliding movements longitudinally of an engaged railand adapted to have thrust coaction to tend to exert a movement from onemember to the other lengthwise of the rail, said member also havingparts which are yield ingly connected and operate to yieldingly retainsaid engaged parts in thrust contact and to return them to normalposition after being relatively moved in one direction.

7. In a rail stay, a body member and a thrust member each having opposedrail base gripping parts, said body member extending under a rail fromits gripping part and having releasable sliding engagement with thethrust member adjacent to its rail base gripping portion whereby themembers are permitted to have limited relative sliding movementslengthwise of a rail in one direction, and a spring-arm projecting fromsaid thrust member under a rail and coacting with a part of said bodymember to yieldingly retain the engaged portions of the members inpredetermined positions of their relative movements.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my name to thisspecification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOSEPH M. VAIL.

Witnesses:

F. E. AUL, M. H. MAYAS.

Gopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of latenta,

Washington, D. G."

